When the beau and I went honeymooning in Europe, we took pains to eat what the locals ate. Thus, we refused to eat at eateries that served American, Mexican, or Asian food in Europe. First, such food was virtually guaranteed not to be good. Second, we could spend our money and fill the limited space in our stomachs with something much better, authentic European food. However, we did make a few slip-ups. In Switzerland, one evening, at a restaurant called Raclette Stube, we ordered their meat fondue, expecting an authentic "Swiss" dish.
When the meal arrived to our table, we were disappointed to discover that the meat fondue (which cost around 40 Swiss francs a head) or "fondue chinois," was simply a version of steamboat hot pot that is served in every-Chinatown, USA.
But thankfully, there were unique Swiss additions to the Chinese fondue. There were (1) creamy fingerling potatoes steaming in a towel-wrapped wicker basket; (2) sweetly brined cornichons (gherkins), pearl onions, and baby corns with a vinegary bite; (3) crisp Swiss potato chips, and (4) a beautiful variety of mayonnaise and aioli dipping sauces made with curry, dijon, and horseradish.
In addition to these interesting Swiss additions, I noticed several differences between Swiss "fondue chinois" and the "fondue chinois" that I eat in America. The Swiss restaurant did not provide a bowl or spoon to enjoy the meat broth in the fondue pot (I merely was given a two-pronged fork) and there were no vegetables, seafood, noodles, or meatballs to cook alongside the thin slices of meat.
My Swiss hot pot experience drew me closer to my own previous hot pot experiences, and reminded me of how I enjoyed hot pot at home the most. Furthermore, because of my rigid, cheapskate upbringing, my wallet has always been uneasy about restaurant hot pot. (If you're unfamiliar with hot pot, see my previous post on hot pot, here, where I explain this soup meal that you cook in and eat from a communal pot. You cook the quick-cooking raw meats and vegetables in a boiling soup, and quickly remove them to prevent overcooking.) A part of me cannot get over the concept of going to a restaurant to cook your own meal. Hey, I pay for someone to do that for me, and that makes me feel special for the evening!
I earnestly believe that hot pot is best done at home. Communal cooking encourages real social collaboration. I love seeing how ambitious guests take charge and step up to the plate--err, I mean pot! Hot pot can also be as mesmerizing as a Broadway production, replete with swirling steam emanating upward from the boiling pot and sizzling and spitting burner grates. But by far, the best part about entertaining with hot pot is that you allow your guests do the work, rather than laboriously toiling away with your back hunched over relentless, sweltering, and glowing spiral burners. Thus, by serving hot pot, you avoid any burn marks branded on your fingers and a lot of stress!
For hot pot, you need a table top butane bunsen burner or electrical hot plate. A table top heating source is a great investment for a working entertainer because it can be used for cheese and chocolate fondue and Korean barbecue (use a grill pan such as a cast iron pan that will retain heat for grilling, though). Such a table top heat source is critical for keeping the food piping hot, as any good caterer will tell you.
Although the "one pot" cooking method isn't conducive for catering to the whims of finicky eaters, check out your local Chinatown for "divided hot pots," which allow you to heat multiple types of broth in the same gurgling cauldron. Each divided pot section may hold alternative soup bases such as (1) a light, refreshing, and cleansing broth or (2) a spicy, nasal-piercing, and magma-hued stock, seasoned with fiery chilies.
Simplicity prevails in hot pot preparation. Hot pot entails only (1) the making of a soup base, (2) the gathering together of ingredients for each person's dipping sauce, and (3) the cleaning and chopping the vegetables. Here are some suggested hot pot ingredients:
Stock Base - Lace your stock or broth base with the one or more of following pungent ingredients for a highly memorable flavor:
- Fresh Ginger (Bruised)
- Miso Paste
- Cumin Powder
- Dried Red Chilies (Whole or Powdered)
- Szechuan Peppercorns
- Star Anise
- Five Spice Powder
- Bonito Fish Flakes
- Dried Taro Strips
- Bay Leaves
Dipping Sauce - Allow guests to dip their meat and other cooked hot pot ingredients in a variety of sauces made of three or more of the following ingredients:
- Soy Sauce
- Sesame Oil
- Rice Wine Vinegar
- Honey
- Chicken Eggs
- Sa-Cha Jiang (Taiwanese Barbecue Sauce made of Anchovies)
- Minced Garlic
- Sliced Scallions
- Chopped Cilantro
- Ground Sesame Paste (Japanese Goma)
- Ponzu Sauce
- Mayonnaise (Flavored with Curry Powder, Horseradish, or Dijon Mustard, in the Swiss Meat Fondue-Style)
Ingredients List - Next, the following ingredients should be the primary substance in your hot pot meal. Feel free to add:
- Thinly Sliced Daikon Radish
- Thinly Sliced Carrots
- Shiitake Mushrooms
- Enoki Mushrooms
- Straw Mushrooms (Canned)
- Soft Tofu (Blocks or Skin)
- Cellophane Mung Bean Noodles (Individual Bundles)
- Yam Noodles (Individually Self-Tied Bundles)
- Udon Noodles
- Shell-On Shrimp (Fresh or Dried)
- Squid
- Springy Precooked Asian Meatballs (Shrimp, Squid, Fish, Beef, Pork)
- Thinly Sliced Meat (Beef, Lamb, Goat, Pork, Chicken)
- Leafy Vegetable Greens (Napa Cabbage, Chrysanthemum Greens, Spinach)
- Frozen Dumplings or Wontons
In the end, after assembling the ingredients and watching your guests cook their (and your meal) you should be greeted with a rich caramel brown-colored broth surrounded by tender sheets of thinly sliced meat (such as rib-eye) poached until small meat ridges have peaked and the edges have curled. With those visual meat cues, the meat is done and the guests are now free to steep their meat and vegetables in a sweetened soy marinade, and shower their hot pot meal with a generous helping of angular scallions sliced on a bias.
Depending on your other ingredients, you and your guests might also enjoy crisp patches of nori (seaweed paper) which become absorbent floating blankets, wispy tendrils of poached egg, smooth-skinned dumplings with soft and uniform pleats, or circular curls of pinkened shrimp.
So to review, here's the game plan for hot pot:
Step #1 Prepare ample amounts of broth ahead of time and keep it on a low simmer during food preparation. Keep a large stockpot simmering on the range and keep refilling the table top pot with the liquid contents of the large stockpot, as you run low on soup on the table top pot.
Step #2 Defrost the meat and seafood (if frozen). When purchasing meat for hot pot, look for meat with thick white segments of fat encompassing the edges or interspersed in the meat like gargantuan continents (in a meat map of the world). The more fat, the more luscious and rich the flavor of the soup and tender the meat.
Step #3 Prepare the vegetables and tofu by (1) washing and leafing the greens, (2) peeling and slicing the daikon and carrots, (3) chopping the garlic, cilantro, and scallions, and (4) dicing the tofu into bite-sized blocks.
Step #4 Lay out the ingredients for the sauces.
Step #5 Set up the bowls, chopsticks, soup spoons, and spider ladles or regular ladles. For a cute touch, you can even label the different plates of meat and place settings (to give the guests a sense of ownership during their hot pot cooking process). They choose what meats go in, and when, so hot pot is definitely "cooked" by your guests.
Step #6 During your hot pot dinner, give verbal instructions to the guests to move the cooked pieces of meat to a specified, cooler area of the pot, or another "serving" bowl entirely, to prevent cross-contamination. Also provide multiple sets of metal scalloped-edged tongs (or spider strainers, which can be purchased in a Chinatown near you), to be sure that no one person monopolizes the hot pot and to allow each of the guests to be equally involved in cooking.
Finally, some hot pot fanatics say that it is a "must" to have ready-made foods at the guests' immediate disposal because of the lag time of cooking hot pot. Therefore, following the Korean and Swiss traditions, you may offer multiple "pickled" side dishes (panchan) with your hot pot, none of which need to be prepared from scratch. Buy canned or jarred preserved vegetables, or think about frozen and microwavable versions of steamed buns. You can even order side dishes to go! But I think the pickled additions are the way to go, since they lend a palatable and acerbic crispness and pleasant vinegar tartness to accompany the warm and soothing hot pot soup. And the pickles are addictive and delicious little snacks easily pinched between the tapered ends of a pair of lengthened and slender chopsticks. Now, I am not one who generally extols the virtues of premade goods, but as an entertainer, you'll need as much assistance you can get, and if the assistance is from factory laborers or automated, mass-producing, pre-packaging food machinery, so be it!
The only drawback of hot pot is the multiple dishes that you'll need to wash after the night is through. The upside however, is that you will have amassed a plentiful collection of petite, shatterprone dishes, although disposal ware should do.
Hope these hot pot tips helped, or at least inspired you do have a hot pot party for your friends in the future!
One of the most eye-catching product in all of the Swiss bakeries are the belegte brötli and lachsbrötli, or aspic-coated, open-faced sandwiches. (And in response to my last post, the brötli sandwiches were my favorite purchase from Zurich's farmers market.)
After scouring the web, I discovered that "brotli" translates into "an open-faced sandwich," and therefore, is much like a French tartine. However, different from most open-faced sandwiches, brötli sandwiches are encased with a thin blanket of gelatin made from rich meat consummé.
Brötli sandwiches are very attractive--a definite visual feast for the eyes. They are decoratively topped with thin layers of smoked salmon or ham, blanched ivory-hued asparagus spears, dill pickles, slices of boiled chicken eggs, wedges of tomatoes, pimento stuffed olives, a twirl of soft butter or mayonnaise from a star-shaped piping tip, and raw yellow onion rings or pearl onions.
For my aspic-enrobed sandwich, I ordered tuna, or "thunfisch." The tuna tasted like it was from a can, but it still tasted delicious. It was mashed into a substantial and creamy spread, and thickly mounded on a square slice of white bread. My brötli came with a briny dill pickle slice, a lone tomato wedge, and a raw onion ring. The cooling aspic layer lent a light and refreshing dimension, and yet, oddly hearty and substantial flavor to my regular tuna sandwich.
If you are interested in traveling to Switzerland, do try out a brötli sandwich. Also, feel free to check out some of my other Zurich-related posts, here: And here are some posts on other foods that I tried in Zurich, that you might consider giving a taste or two:
As you may remember, I previously posted on Zurich's Farmers Market, in the Hauptbahnhof (the central train station). Despite the relatively "empty" content of my post, I actually did not leave the farmers market empty-handed. I would love to share with you a memorable purchase from the market, the Swiss pretzel.
In America, we eat pretzels alone, unadorned, and unadulterated. Therefore, in Switzerland, I decided to go "out on a limb," and thus I ordered a pretzel sandwich with butter and prosciutto.
In the United States, we know pretzels as either the (1) hard and bite-sized "snack" kind, found in manufactured plastic bags, like Rold Gold's, or (2) the large and soft kind, like those you buy in the mall from Auntie Anne's. Oddly, the warm pretzel (or "bretzel," in German) from Switzerland possessed the best of both "hard/soft" worlds, for (1) it was dried and crunchy at the tapered and twisted ends, and (2) soft, dense, and chewy like a doughy bagel in the thicker regions. The pretzel's shiny surface was encrusted with with opaque salt crystals, which were perched like coarse jewels on the braided pretzel crown. The subtle flavors and harmonious textures of the pretzel were outstanding: I had never had a pretzel with both soft and hard elements, both present at once.
And onto the "sandwich" element of the pretzel. There was substantial layer of cold, sweet, coagulated butter spread thick across the interior surface of the sliced pretzel. The unsalted and freshly churned butter tasted like a decadent coating of luxurious cream cheese on a toasted New York bagel. The paper-thin slice of cured Italian meat had a pleasingly salty finish and firm, gristle-like "tug" in each bite. Quite delicious, if I might say so myself.
Although the pretzel was great, it was not my favorite item from the farmers market, that day. More to come, on my favorite farmers market purchase!
If you cannot wait until my next post, check out some of my other Zurich-related posts, here:
And here are some posts on other foods that I sampled in Zurich:
Every Wednesday from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., Zurich's Central Train Station, the Hauptbahnhof, transforms into a vibrant circus, not of exotic animals, but rather, a circus-like farmers market of seasonal fruits, colorful vegetables, freshly baked goods, brined olives, and egg pastas and cured meats imported from Italy.
Take a peek at Zurich's impressive green vegetable selection of potatoes, lush savoy cabbage, tuber-licious turnips, and pockmarked celeriac.
Admire the stupendous baked array of Swiss goods and skewered fresh fruit snacks, including braided bread rolls, open-faced sandwiches enveloped in aspic, salt-encrusted pretzels, and apples dipped in luscious and melted caramel.
And look on at the links of cured sausages and meats.
Also, at Zurich's farmers market, you can peruse aged barrels filled to the brim with a wide array of brined olives and red peppers.
Finally, enjoy this vision of thick wheels of cheeses and trays of stuffed pastas, all imported from Italy.
On Wednesdays, you could go on quite an adventure, without ever leaving the confines of the train station!
For more posts on my time in Zurich, Switzerland, check out my older posts:
A must-visit place in Zurich, Switzerland for a foodie, is H. Schwarzenbach Kolonialwaren & Kaffeerösterei, a family-owned historic colonial era trading outpost, dating back over a generation.
The beautiful store facade and stunning window displays of specialty food items immediately illustrates why H. Schwarzenbach is a Zurich icon.
H. Scharzenbach offers an abundance of exotic goods, including rich loose leaf teas, intensely flavored coffee beans (which may be roasted in house), aromatic spices, jarred sauces, rare chutneys, flavored vinegars and oils, chocolates, and dried tropical fruits, nuts, and pastas.
For instance, you can purchase these crunchy roasted candy-coated almonds at H. Schwarzenbach, as well as on the chilly winter streets of Zurich.
After visiting H. Scharzenbach, be sure to stop by one of Zurich's refreshing public water fountains, which are dispersed throughout Zurich.
Although Zurich's fountains look like decorative garden fountains that recycle algae-infested and used water, you can actually drink clean water from the Alps at these "drinking holes." Despite the perpetually flowing (but not recirculating) water, there is no real waste because the excess water drains into the Limmat River.
Decorated with ornate sculptures and often with an elaborate labyrinth of intertwined pipes, the fountains gurgle and spray into deep reflecting pools. Dip your cupped hands into the pool for a wash or hold your glass up to the pouring fountain stream for a delicious drink.
The water in Zurich has a crisp mineral-flavored bite with a dull aftertaste/finish, and tastes precisely like Evian.
If you enjoyed this post, check out a few of my other posts regarding my visit to Zurich, Switzerland:
In addition to Rivella, another popular drink in Switzerland is the "Ovomaltine," a chocolate malt drink that you can find in the refrigerated aisle as the "Ovo Drink." This chocolately beverage has an ephemeral malt aftertaste and light milky fragrance, and is one of Switzerland's top selling refreshments. Therefore, during my Swiss honeymoon, I made sure to load my travel pack with a few plastic bottles of this nutritious drink.
However, my whole experience with these milky malt drinks is clouded in ambiguity. Based on my Switzerland travel guidebook, I was informed that "Ovomaltine" and "Ovo Drinks" were the genuine Swiss food products, while "Ovaltine" (the product that we know in the U.S.) was considered by the Swiss to be merely a cheap imitation. However, Wikipedia informed me that Ovomaltine and Ovaltine are the same drink and made by the same company, but called "Ovomaltine" in Switzerland and "Ovaltine" in England. Irregardless of semantics, I rediscovered and came to love the Ovomaltine/Ovaltine drink during my time in Switzerland.
When I was a kid, I preferred to get my malt fix via chocolate-coated Whoppers, and my chocolate milk fix by mixing milk with the gooey chocolate syrup with the Nestle Quix Rabbit on the label. To me, an Ovaltine was just the drink in the Christmas Story movie, and along with Yoohoos, they were beverages of a bygone era that my parents loved but only purchased for me on very, very rare occasions. However, now that I have had the opportunity to rediscover the rich, chocolately and milky aroma of Ovaltine/Ovalmaltine as an adult, I now appreciate its timeless appeal.
If you are interested in more Swiss beverages, check out my previous experience with Rivella:
Since most of us are trying to follow through with the common New Year’s resolution of losing weight, I might as well post about a gorgeous fruit that I had an opportunity to sample in Switzerland—the red currant.
Though quite similar in taste and texture to a lightly sour raspberry, the glistening, shining surface of the tart orb is more comparable to the skin of a tender blueberry. Red currants are endowed with woody stems on their navels and their semi-translucent bodies are filled with a nucleus of tiny, hardened seeds that may lodge deep within the crevices of your molars. They come in grape-like clusters, dangling like heavy beads suspended on a wisteria branch. The tiny globe-shaped currants easily burst in your mouth and the sweet pulp will stain your eager lips. When red currants are deemed too sour for raw consumption, they are often used in fruit preserves, berry tarts, syrupy glazes, or even in yogurts or to be steeped in teas. I guarantee that one taste will have you requesting more!
Although the beau and I visited Switzerland from late October to early November, we noticed that many Swiss stores had already begun decorating for Christmas. For instance, luxury clothing boutiques had sparkling strings of Christmas lights dangling from the storefronts and chocolate shops had cottony bundles of artificial snow nestling in the corners of their windows. Best of all, the Swiss supermarkets were stocked with bountiful displays of seasonal Christmas cookies. The Christmas cookies that repeatedly caught my eye (and helped to empty the cash from my pocket, time after time) were "elisen lebkuchen" cookies, or spiced German Christmas cookies.
The first time I purchased elisen lebkuchen cookies, I was mesmerized. After carefully opening the crinkly cellophane wrapper, I laid out the three different cookies from within the package and delicately inspected them one-by-one, caressing the edges with my fingers. I divided the cookies according to their three types: (1) plain, (2) coated in chocolate, and (3) coated in a milky sugar glaze. Each cookie had an airy, rice papery, communion wafer layer adhered firmly to the back. (Although I have analogized certain textures to communion wafers before, the cookie backing literally tastes like a communion wafer, and later, after industriously scouring the web, I discovered that indeed, the backing is a communion wafer.)
As I bit into the thick and pillowy soft cookie, I found that they possessed the encompassing, warming flavors of gingerbread and rum with a soothing aftertaste of cloves and allspice, and just a hint of cinnamon. The dimpled cookies had crunchy bits of chopped hazelnuts, distributed throughout the cookie dough. The cookies coated in chocolate and the thin layer of hardened sugary icing were also delightful. Even though I purchased the cookies from the store rack, the cookies had retained the moisture and texture of being freshly baked, just a few hours ago.
I hope my post about my experience with elisen lebkuchen cookies gets you in the holiday mood. They sure did for me, way back in October!
I loved window shopping in Zurich, and I hope from this picture, you can see why.
I would spend hours walking up and down Bahnhofstrasse and the nearby neighborhoods, simply peeking through storefront glass and deciding what I should purchase for a mid-afternoon snack. See the candied citrus segments coated in chocolate on the lower left hand corner? For a chocolate-lover like me, Switzerland was a dreamland.
(Also, since we are on the topic of "looking," I just wanted to thank the blogger at Three Column Blogger for providing the instructions for me to implement this new, three column layout. Check out the blog for amazing, detailed, step-by-step guidance on changing your blogger code.)
The one store that defined my trip to Zurich, Switzerland, was without a doubt, Confiserie Sprüngli, a delicious store which is a combination bakery (with a dizzying selection of toothachingly sweet Swiss pastries) and confectioner/chocolatier’s shop. (Thank you for the tip, Just Hungry!)
The moment you enter, you will see a throng of eager patrons standing in line to order Confiserie Sprüngli’s renowned Luxemburgerli macaroons. The macaroons generally consist of (1) decadently buttery chocolate ganache or (2) cloud-like puffs of whipped cream, sandwiched in between two melt-in-your-mouth meringue mounds that have an airy, wafer-like crispness. The meringues literally evaporate in your mouth like a sweet silk, made of sugar.
Yes folks, this is what manna must have tasted like. Hallelujah!
The first thing I thought of when I read the word “luxemBURGERli,” was the word, “burger.” The Luxemburgerli macaroons do indeed look like dainty finger-sized burgers, but exhibit an artistic flair—they might possess a bright pastel sheen, a luminescent surface which reflects the glistening sunlight, or be covered in a blanket of powdered cocoa. Confiserie Sprüngli has a stunning array of robust flavors, including pistachio and alcohol-infused flavors such as champagne and Bailey’s liqueur. But there are flavors even for the unadventurous, including classic French vanilla, and Swiss chocolate.
After you’ve ordered your macaroons and paid at the counter (but before you open the pristine box flaps to your macaroon feast), take the time to read the attached message printed in three different languages (German, French, and English) on a paper slip the size of those you find in fortune cookies. The instruction on the message is simple, yet forceful, "Enjoy [your macaroons] as soon as possible." The delicate texture of the macaroons are best eaten in seconds so that they retain their crisp and airy texture, and don't become chewy and stale from humid air.
These Luxemburgerli macaroons, unfortunately, don't come cheap. I remember the price as roughly five Swiss francs (approximately, four dollars) for a small box of four macaroons. But believe you me, they're worth every bite.
If you aren't in the mood for sweets, the Confiserie Sprüngli on Bahnhofstrasse (the main thoroughfare in Zurich) sells savory foods, such as sandwiches, quiches, and meat pies.
So to recap, if you're in Zurich, you "must" visit Confiserie Sprüngli. It's the place to eat Swiss sweets!
Even though I am on my honeymoon, there hasn't been one day that I haven't thought about food blogging.
Allow me to explain! I am sampling many new types of food products and many different cuisines, and I can't wait to share my experiences with you!
One of my most exciting discoveries in Switzerland (the land of milk, cheese, fondue, and chocolate) is Rivella, a popular carbonated Swiss beverage made from milk plasma or "milchserum," in German. Rivella allegedly rivals Coca-Cola in terms of popularity in Switzerland.
Although I am not entirely clear what "milchserum" is, Rivella allegedly contains all of the nutrients and minerals as milk, but does not contain any proteins or lipids. To me, Rivella tastes like two parts Red Bull with one part diluted apple juice. If you have ever tried Calpico (a yogurt-based drink found in Asian supermarkets and unfortunately titled "Calpis" in Asian countries), I would say that Rivella has got the tarty yogurt essence of Calpico too. Rivella has an interesting, biting flavor with a strong aftertaste, but definitely quenches your thirst as you are hiking through the bustling river-lined streets in a large Swiss city or the trails cutting across rocky Alps. If you are ever traveling in Switzerland, drop by a local market and pick up some Rivella to try. It is the real Swiss deal. Rivella makes me want to go blow an Alpine horn in the mountains and yell "Ri-vella" (instead of "Ri-cola")!
. . . I know, that was a horrendous joke. Okay, back to the honeymoon. More posts soon!
I just wanted to send everyone a quick update about my whereabouts. The beau and I have been having a wonderful time in Switzerland, eating what the Swiss eat. (Check out this McDonald's advertisement from the streets of Zurich for an idea of a classic difference between American and Swiss food--the cheese!)
In Switzerland, for a typical breakfast, we will have a buttery croissant with butter and preserves and hot chocolate; for lunch, we will have a crusty round of bread with hot wurst and mustard; and for dinner, we will dunk cubes of chewy white bread into a gooey fondue pot of melted gruyere and emmenthaler cheese.
I have so much more to write about the Swiss food I have been having here, but it may have to wait until I return to the States. I can't wait to catch up with all of you, and hope you are all doing well!
